42 in one year 2 class am I over reacting?

My dc go to a village school rated as outstanding by ofsted who have just become an academy. I have found out that the already huge year 1 class my dd is in will expand to 42 in september with one dedicated qualified teacher.

Am i over reacting to be concerned? Does the fact they are foundation mean they can take as many children as they like? I have asked for a meeting with head and chair of governors to be arranged anything else I should do?

are you sure the class will be that big?, i only ask because at my dc's school, each year group has an intake of 40, but class size remains 30. they do split classes throughout the school, eg year 5/6 is split, 1 class of 30 all yr 5, then 2 classes mixed year 5 and 6.

i find split classes work really well.

(ps, my dc's school is also outstanding at ofsted and changed to an academy last year)

Even 38 in Y1 with a single teacher is illegal unless 8 of them are excepted children (which means they don't count towards the infant class size limit). The only way this would be legal is if there will be at least 12 excepted children in the class come September or if they intend to have other teachers helping the dedicated teacher.

You need to go to the school and ask the head teacher for a clear explanation of the class structure and who is teaching who in terms of classes.If the school had 38 in the one class this year then either this was illegal or they had a very strange situation where for some reason 8 pupils were considered as what is called excepted pupils. There is a list of different reasons why they may be considered excepted.To then be adding another 4 pupils to start in September says to me that they must be running a class with two qualified school teachers in the class. Whilst the school may have just converted to an Academy until the 1st September the LA would still be completely involved in admissions to the school and I do not know how this could happen without someone saying something.

My school has this problem...way over subscribed but parents just keep on coming and, yes some get in...looked after, disabled parents, fair access, etc. When I meet with them, on entry, I have to ask the question"Why on earth do you want you 6 year old in a class of 34?" They just don't get it. They still think their child is the only one/ most important one in the class...sorry, but it's just miserable for everyone.

spudmasher - if they are getting places due to statements, LAC or FAP then the answer to your question is they have no choice.

Nobody really wants their child in a huge class but it is better than no place at all.If they are being given a place under Fair Access Protocol for example it will mean every single school in the entire area is already full and the council has sent them there whether they want to go or not.If they are getting sent there because a statement names the school, it means no other school apart from yours can meet their needs.

Rather than broach it with the parents individually which is a bit unfair given that most of them have no power over this at all, you'd need to speak to the governors and the local authority about why there is such a lack of provision, why your school is taking more than its fair share of unplaced children and at what stage they would rearrange classes to better manage it if possible.

Could it be that the year 3 classes are lower in number so at certain times of the day a number if the year 2 kids will rotate into year 3 (swapping over etc) so at no time would any one class have over 30?

It's still sounds madness to me. In our infants, each class has a min of one teacher and 2 ta's.

I've had 31 this year and 34 next but that's in a year 5/6 class ( although I once had 35 in a Reception/Yr 1/Yr 2 combined class, now that was fun .42 with one teacher is definitely illegal in KS1, you need to ask the Head how she is attempting to get around the law!

I'm a great believer in if something looks too absurd to be true then it probably isn't true. So OP please have a conversation with your school tomorrow and simply ask, given the KS1 class sizes rule, how is the 42 in a class planned to work? I am optimistic that you will find there is a planned split of classes or two teachers...